Monday, December 15, 2008

My Geology meme list

Here is my geology meme list! Bold the ones you have done (mine are in the comments).

1. See an erupting volcano (Mt St. Helens in summer 2006)2. See a glacier (Glacier National Park and Sierras)3. See an active geyser such as those in Yellowstone, New Zealand or the type locality of Iceland (Yellowstone in summer 2006)4. Visit the Cretaceous/Tertiary (KT) Boundary. Possible locations include Gubbio, Italy, Stevns Klint, Denmark, the Red Deer River Valley near Drumheller, Alberta5. Observe (from a safe distance) a river whose discharge is above bankful stage (A creek near my house in Jan 1997)6. Explore a limestone cave (Several in the foothills in the Sierra, wild and by tours, Crystal Cave in Sequoia NP, and Lehman Caves in Nevada)7. Tour an open pit mine, such as those in Butte, Montana, Bingham Canyon, Utah, Summitville, Colorado, Globe or Morenci, Arizona, or Chuquicamata, Chile (Round Mountain in Nevada)8. Explore a subsurface mine (Sutter Gold mine in Sutter Creek, CA; mines outside of Ruth, NV)9. See an ophiolite, such as the ophiolite complex in Oman or the Troodos complex on the Island Cyprus (The coast ranges of California)10. An anorthosite complex, such as those in Labrador, the Adirondacks, and Niger (there's some anorthosite in southern California too)11. A slot canyon, many of these amazing canyons are less than 3 feet wide and over 100 feet deep. They reside on the Colorado Plateau. Among the best are Antelope Canyon, Brimstone Canyon, Spooky Gulch and the Round Valley Draw12. Varves, whether you see the type section in Sweden or examples elsewhere13. An exfoliation dome, such as those in the Sierra Nevada (I like Turtleback dome in Yosemite, which give nice views of valley)14. A layered igneous intrusion, such as the Stillwater complex in Montana or the Skaergaard Complex in Eastern Greenland (I have seen the Stillwater Complex in summer 2006)15. Coastlines along the leading and trailing edge of a tectonic plate (I live in California)16. A gingko tree, which is the lone survivor of an ancient group of softwoods that covered much of the Northern Hemisphere in the Mesozoic (I remember a bunch around my high school)17. Living and fossilized stromatolites (Glacier National Park is a great place to see fossil stromatolites, while Shark Bay in Australia is the place to see living ones) (I have seen in the ones in Glacier National Park)18. A field of glacial erratics19. A caldera (Crater Lake National Park and Long Valley Caldera)20. A sand dune more than 200 feet high (I have rolled down smaller dunes!)21. A fjord22. A recently formed fault scarp23. A megabreccia24. An actively accreting river delta25. A natural bridge (Natural Bridges National Momument)26. A large sinkhole (Does TV count?)27. A glacial outwash plain28. A sea stack (Nice ones along the California and Oregon Coast)29. A house-sized glacial erratic (Out in Washington and Idaho)30. An underground lake or river31. The continental divide (Glacier National Park)32. Fluorescent and phosphorescent minerals (some of my favorite samples are at a state mineral muesum in Mariposa, CA)33. Petrified trees (Ginko Petrified Forest and some in Utah and Nevada)34. Lava tubes (Of course, Lava Beds National Monument)35. Grand Canyon, part way down and back (I have been out on the edge of Horseshoe Mesa)36. Meteor Crater, Arizona, also known as the Barringer Crater, to see an impact crater on a scale that is comprehensible37. The Great Barrier Reef, northeastern Australia, to see the largest coral reef in the world38. The Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada, to see the highest tides in the world (up to 16m)39. The Waterpocket Fold, Utah, to see well exposed folds on a massive scale (I was there this summer, swam in the Fremont River, and did a remote sensing project for one of my classes)40. The Banded Iron Formation, Michigan, to better appreciate the air you breathe41. The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania42. Lake Baikal, Siberia, to see the deepest lake in the world (1,620 m) with 20 percent of the Earth's fresh water43. Ayers Rock (known now by the Aboriginal name of Uluru), Australia. This inselberg of nearly vertical Precambrian strata is about 2.5 kilometers long and more than 350 meters high44. Devil's Tower, northeastern Wyoming, to see a classic example of columnar jointing (Does Devils Postpile count?)45. The Alps46. Telescope Peak, in Death Valley National Park. From this spectacular summit you can look down onto the floor of Death Valley - 11,330 feet below (I have been to Augerberry Point)47. The Li River, China, to see the fantastic tower karst that appears in much Chinese art48. The Dalmation Coast of Croatia, to see the original Karst49. The Gorge of Bhagirathi, one of the sacred headwaters of the Ganges, in the Indian Himalayas, where the river flows from an ice tunnel beneath the Gangatori Glacier into a deep gorge50. The Goosenecks of the San Juan River, Utah, an impressive series of entrenched meanders51. Shiprock, New Mexico, to see a large volcanic neck (only in the distance)52. Land's End, Cornwall, Great Britain, for fractured granites that have feldspar crystals bigger than your fist53. Tierra del Fuego, Chile and Argentina, to see the Straights of Magellan and the southernmost tip of South America54. Mount St. Helens, Washington, to see the results of recent explosive volcanism (in 2003 and 2006)55. The Giant's Causeway and the Antrim Plateau, Northern Ireland, to see polygonally fractured basaltic flows56. The Great Rift Valley in Africa57. The Matterhorn, along the Swiss/Italian border, to see the classic "horn" (How about the ride at Disneyland?)58. The Carolina Bays, along the Carolinian and Georgian coastal plain59. The Mima Mounds near Olympia, Washington (I have seen some in California, previous post)60. Siccar Point, Berwickshire, Scotland, where James Hutton (the "father" of modern geology) observed the classic unconformity61. The moving rocks of Racetrack Playa in Death Valley (I hope to soon)62. Yosemite Valley (Numerous times)63. Landscape Arch (or Delicate Arch) in Utah (I have been to both and wish I had more time to explore)64. The Burgess Shale in British Columbia (I want to plan a trip soon)65. The Channeled Scablands of central Washington (very cool)66. Bryce Canyon (several different times)67. Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone68. Monument Valley 69. The San Andreas fault (What part?)70. The dinosaur footprints in La Rioja, Spain71. The volcanic landscapes of the Canary Islands72. The Pyrennees Mountains73. The Lime Caves at Karamea on the West Coast of New Zealand74. Denali (an orogeny in progress)75. A catastrophic mass wasting event (Mt. St. Helens; rockslides in Yosemite Valley)76. The giant crossbeds visible at Zion National Park77. The black sand beaches in Hawaii (or the green sand-olivine beaches)78. Barton Springs in Texas79. Hells Canyon in Idaho80. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado81. The Tunguska Impact site in Siberia82. Feel an earthquake with a magnitude greater than 5.0 (Loma Prieta, 1989)83. Find dinosaur footprints in situ84. Find a trilobite (or a dinosaur bone or any other fossil) (Lots)85. Find gold, however small the flake (been goldpanning)86. Find a meteorite fragment87. Experience a volcanic ashfall88. Experience a sandstorm (Red Rock Canyon, Mojave Desert, summer 2003)89. See a tsunami90. Witness a total solar eclipse91. Witness a tornado firsthand. (Important rules of this game)92. Witness a meteor storm, a term used to describe a particularly intense (1000+ per minute) meteor shower93. View Saturn and its moons through a respectable telescope94. See the Aurora borealis, otherwise known as the northern lights95. View a great naked-eye comet, an opportunity which occurs only a few times per century96. See a lunar eclipse97. View a distant galaxy through a large telescope98. Experience a hurricane99. See noctilucent clouds100. See the green flash